Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

The publisher of the upstart Nevada City Advocate now works and resides in South Dakota, according to his LinkedIn profile.

But he’s still acting like a local, advocating that “city must consider contracting out police services.”

“If anything, the problem with smoking and loitering seems to have gotten worse on Commercial Street and nothing has really changed in Calahan Park since the city passed a no-smoking ordinance that was designed to give the police department the tools to address the concerns of downtown merchants and residents in general,” he observes.

Well, there’s a webcam at the foot of Broad Street for him to help keep tabs on the town. Thanks for that.

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Managing is a tough, complex business, everybody has an opinion, and it’s simplistic to point fingers. But for whatever reasons, “an octopus with no head,” is the metaphor that one independent accreditor used to describe Nevada Union High School leadership in a recent meeting during a preliminary assessment, according to my sources.

The Board of Trustees has been subject to criticism, too, with one union official calling for the President to resign. He declined.

Now comes a shakeup at Nevada Union High School, where Park Avenue Principal Mike Blake becomes principal of NU, replacing Marty Mathiesen, starting next year. Mathiesen voluntarily goes to Park Avenue, according to the district. And NU assistant Principal Cathy Peterson is expected to go to Bear River, my sources said.

There obviously is no legal issue of any kind, because all of the administrators are landing on their feet, with secure jobs.

Often “a fresh way of thinking” helps invigorate any institution.

I, for one, always think it’s good the embrace change. In our neck of the woods, we often are an insular bunch — in civic, government and business positions. It’s hard to be an agent of change.

Nevada Union remains a good high school and changes in the administrative ranks are not directly related to teaching the students.

I spoke to NUHS Superintendent Marianne Cartan, who declined to elaborate beyond this:

“The School Board took three actions in closed session on Monday, March 14, 2011:

1. The Board adopted Resolution #17-10/11 to reassign an Assistant Principal from his/her current position to a different Assistant principal position. This change will begin with the 2011/2012 school year.

2. The Board approved the request from a voluntary transfer submitted by the Principal of Nevada Union High School to move to Park Avenue Alternative Education Center in the position of Principal. This change will begin with the 2011/2012 school year.

3. The Board approved a Change of Status for the Principal of Park Avenue Alternative Education Center to the Principal of Nevada Union High School. This change will begin with the 2011/2012 school year.”

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“The huge gold nugget found last year in Nevada County was sold this afternoon in Sacramento to an anonymous bidder for $400,000,” according to the Sacramento Bee.

“The so-called Washington Nugget weighs nearly 100 troy ounces – about 7 pounds – and had been listed with an auction estimate of $250,000 to $400,000. In addition to the sales price, the buyer must pay $60,000 to the auction house.

“The buyer did not attend the auction. The buyer’s bids were made by an agent from Spectrum Numismatics International.”

The rest of the article is here.

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In a shakeup of the Nevada Union High School administration, Park Avenue Principal Mike Blake becomes principal of NU, replacing Marty Mathiesen, starting next year. Mathiesen goes to Park Avenue. And NU assistant Principal Cathy Peterson is expected to go to Bear River, according to my sources.

“The School Board took three actions in closed session on Monday, March 14, 2011:

1. The Board adopted Resolution #17-10/11 to reassign an Assistant Principal from his/her current position to a different Assistant principal position. This change will begin with the 2011/2012 school year.

2. The Board approved the request from a voluntary transfer submitted by the Principal of Nevada Union High School to move to Park Avenue Alternative Education Center in the position of Principal. This change will begin with the 2011/2012 school year.

3. The Board approved a Change of Status for the Principal of Park Avenue Alternative Education Center to the Principal of Nevada Union High School. This change will begin with the 2011/2012 school year.”

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Are we making light of concerns about hate speech and racist remarks in our community? “I went to the Republican Lady’s Luncheon today and could have sold 4 cartoon prints if I has some with me. It was an easy sale. Everyone wants a framed one,” writes hard right blogger Russ Steele referring to The Union’s cartoon on the topic.

But concerns about hate speech in the media continue to be expressed here — more than 40 signed comments from post alone — “How The Union makes light of racism in our community.”

“Our media provides this platform for hate speech under the guise of freedom of speech. Hate speech is not protected speech,” writes Truckee resident Steve Frisch in one of the comments. “Speech which incites violence or prejudicial action against a group should not be condoned, and is not protected through media outlets–it may be protected individual speech at times, but media outlets are not required to protect hate speech. These outlets do so AT WILL and this action should be rejected by our community.”

As I wrote before, NPR apologized for its “Dark Continent” commentary, which some listeners found offensive. The details are here.

Hate speech in the media is a national debate.

•”This kind of racist rhetoric is endemic to the mainstream press and requires urgent attention,” says National Hispanic Media Coalition president Alex Nogales. “(The group) hopes that with heightened public awareness and criticism, media corporations will choose to distance themselves from the personalities espousing racist views.”

•Added a letter sent to the FCC by media watchdog groups including Free Press, the Media Access Project and Common Cause: “The current media landscape is a safe haven for hate and extremism.” It has asked the FCC to track Internet hate speech.

•”Although the Internet gives the illusion that news sources have increased, in fact there are fewer journalists employed now than before its inception,” according to the National Hispanic Media coalition. “Moreover, on the Internet, speakers can hide in the cloak of anonymity, emboldened to say things that they may not say in the public eye.”

“We’re the second whitest county in state, but change is afoot, Census Data shows,” I wrote the other day. It’s good to see our community discussing the issue here, rather than laughing it off.

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Here’s a post on the BriarPatch’s Facebook page in light of the nuclear risk from Japan: “We have sold out of potassium iodide, sorry. We’ll post here when we get more, but with the demand being so high now, we don’t know when that will be.”

This mirrors a national trend.

“Supplies of potassium iodide, a preventive against radiation poisoning of the thyroid gland, are running low at some manufacturers, as Americans seek protection amid fears that radiation from Japan could head to the U.S., according to the companies,” as the Wall Street Journal reported.

“U.S. lawmakers want federal authorities to expand the availability of potassium iodide to protect people who live near nuclear power plants from the cancer-causing effects of radiation,” Bloomberg is reporting.

Frequently asked questions on Potassium Iodide, provided on BriarPatch’s Facebook page, is here. A real benefit to Co-ops like BriarPatch is the educational role they play, well beyond your typical grocery store.

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A night out on the town can be a reminder what an eclectic bunch we are. At dinner on a rainy Tuesday night we ran into Phil and Belinda Carville of the South Yuba Club/Monster Gym; Andrew Meyers and his wife, Andrea, of Four Frog Farms; and Dave Perillo and a team from Grass Valley Group, all in the same dining room. Our son showed off his “NingaGo” playing cards. Only one couple seemed to glare at our table — not bad, I joked to my wife.

We talked politics with the Carville’s, sustainable farming with Andrew, and business with Grass Valley Group (now just called “Grass Valley.”) Being a longtime tech wonk, I was most interested in the update from Grass Valley Group.

The stalwart video tech business is embracing change since their recent acquisition by Francisco Partners, I learned. There have been some good management changes (a blend of old and new), team building and a shorter commute for business meetings in San Francisco instead of Paris (Thomson’s home).

I should add that the execs enjoyed the writeups on Francisco-Grass Valley on this blog. One is here.

Though there’s skepticism in some circles of our community about Francisco’s intentions (as a private equity firm), I’m confident it’s going to be a good fit — helping to build a bridge between Silicon Valley and our community.

Grass Valley’s marketing group is rolling out press releases about new features and functionality to their products — three this month alone.

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